LA Observed: Eli Broad and the LA Times

Los Angeles businessman and philanthropist Eli Broad has reportedly partnered with investment banker and former L.A. Deputy Mayor Austin Beutner to make a bid for the Los Angeles Times.

According toThe Hollywood Reporter, the pair is mainly interested in the Times, though they would consider purchasing the block of Tribune Company newspapers, including the Chicago Tribune, The Baltimore Sun, and the Hartford Courant, and then sell off some of those titles.

Beutner and Broad would reconfigure the Times into a nonprofit, which Beutner would run while Broad joins its board of governors.

This isn’t the first time Broad has expressed interest in purchasing the Times.

In 2007 he joined supermarket magnate Ron Burkle in a bid for the Tribune Company, but they were outbid by Sam Zell.